


To Love a "Chocolate" Cornet

by stingray5555



Series: A "Chocolate" Cornet [4]
Category: BanG Dream! (Anime), BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: Blood, Blood and Injury, Blood and Torture, Blood and Violence, Fucked Up, Gen, Insanity, Sadism, Torture, Why Did I Write This?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-18
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-12-22 18:30:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21081137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stingray5555/pseuds/stingray5555
Summary: Injured, Saya seeks shelter in a familiar establishment and is taken care of by the two employees working there. After finding out that her current situation seems hopeless, she begins to break down.





	To Love a "Chocolate" Cornet

Saya found herself in front of a brightly illuminated business after wandering aimlessly through alleys and dark streets for fifteen or so minutes. As the sirens wailing in the distance became fainter, so did her breathing. She was exhausted, and her injury did not help her one bit. 

“Urf…” she groaned, resting her back on a wall beside the shop. The bleeding would not stop, no matter how much pressure Saya placed on the gaping wound that stretched across her forehead to the side of her head just above her ears. Hina had cut into her deep enough that many of the blood vessels running through the affected area were severed. She had lost a lot of blood already, and if her wound was not treated soon, she would eventually lose enough to render her etiolated. Outside in the streets under the moonless night was the last place she wanted her life to end. 

Weakly, she peered through the glass, first looking at the few customers who were enjoying their evening hot coffee or plate of sliced cake, then towards the back of the dining area upon seeing a person sitting behind a counter. This place was familiar to her since she had been here a couple of times to enjoy a midday coffee with the daughter of the owner of the shop, Tsugumi Hazawa. If she was going to die, then let it be with people she knew. 

Entering through the door sounded a chime that sent the staff a signal that there was another customer to serve. “Welcome to the Hazawa Cafe!” a lively voice greeted Saya. A figure then approached her only to stop halfway and stare at the pale-faced girl in shock.

“Oh my goodness!” shouted Eve, dropping the little clipboard she uses to take orders and running towards the injured girl. “Saya-chan! A-Are you okay?! What happened?!”

“P-Please just get me some cloth or something to cover this up first,” she responded, pointing at her wound.

Eve rushed to the kitchen to alert the brunette who was brewing a fresh batch of black coffee. “Tsugumi-san!” the panicked girl burst through the door. “S-Saya-chan needs help!”

“H-Huh?” Tsugumi looked up from her work. “Saya-chan is here?”

“Yes! She’s all covered in blood and there’s a large cut on her head!”

“What?!”

The two employees gathered all the cloth they could find and went back to Saya, who was now leaning against the glass wiping the blood flowing out of her wound with the back of her fingers. As the customers watched in surprise and disgust, Tsugumi helped her on a chair while Eve handled the gaping wound. She was not a fan of blood at all, so during the whole process, her hands were shaky and trembling. Saya clenched her teeth and closed her eyes while Eve tried her best to clean and patch her wound with the several kitchen towels they had. Even if they were not the best of medics, they seemed to be doing a good job at treating the wound.

"Eve-chan, I think we should do this somewhere where the customers don't see us," whispered Tsugumi, glancing at the unfamiliar people looking their way. “Should we bring her into the back room of the kitchen?”

“S-Sure…” she replied. The two of them helped Saya stand up and slowly guided her away from the dining area, where a few customers had seen enough blood to last the rest of the month. Inside the kitchen’s back room, where the workers hung out and ate on the single wooden table and two plastic chairs during break times, Eve continued to apply pressure with the bloody towels onto her head while Tsugumi set up one of the chairs for Saya to sit on. Once she was still, Eve took the longest towel she could find and wrapped it tightly around the circumference of her head acting as a makeshift bandage. Thankfully, the amount of bleeding had decreased by then.

“Hff…” the injured girl weakly moaned, her forehead rhythmically shooting out jolts of pin-prick like pain. The two employees watched her shiver in discomfort, thinking about what to do next.

“Do you want to go to the hospital, Saya-chan?” asked Eve, washing the icky red liquid off her hands in the sink. “I can call an ambulance for you-”

“No!” she immediately retorted, shaking her head. “I-I’m fine here… I really am…”

“You’re in really bad shape, though…” a worried Tsugumi commented. “And we don’t have anything here to take care of your cut…”

“No no, I insist on staying here! I’ll get up and walk out of here before the next hour." She knew she couldn’t afford to go to the hospital because if evidence is found that points to her as the murderer, all the police needed to do was to go to her room and arrest her. 

Tsugumi and Eve nodded but with visible hesitation. "Well, what happened to you, anyway?" asked the white-haired girl. Saya then had to quickly fabricate a story. 

"Well…” she began. “I was walking home from school when I noticed this girl was approaching me from behind. She was approaching me hastily and seemed to be holding something in her hand. I tried outpacing her, but suddenly she began running and caught up with me. She then covered my mouth from behind and held this large knife up to my neck. She told me that she was going to take me home and kill me! I struggled to break free, but she was very strong and kept an iron grip on me. But, like a miracle, I managed to free myself from her hold and escape. I only noticed this wound after I stopped running far, far away from that place. The whole ordeal was like an adrenaline rush. Everything felt like it happened in the span of mere seconds!"

Saya looked up to see the two faces looking at her absolutely astounded. “C-Could it be… you met with whoever killed Chisato-chan and Kaoru-san?” muttered Tsugumi, lowering her head in remembrance of the terrible fate that befell the two innocent souls. Eve then started to sniffle, also remembering what had happened to her beloved band member. “C-Chisato-chan…” she whispered shakily, wiping the tears forming in her eyes.

“I guess… Thank the heavens that I survived…”

“Did you see the face of whoever tried to kidnap you, at least?” Tsugumi queried.

“All I remember was that it was a girl with short hair, slightly shorter than me… I think she was also wearing the Hanasakigawa school uniform…” Saya was doing her best attempt at framing somebody else, but that might not work anymore since she was already seen in full view by Hina and Sayo’s parents.

“So the killer really is a student from the schools…” she shook her head in worry. “But who? Who would do such depraved things to innocent people?”

Eve clenched her fist and raised it high up in the air. “I-In the name of bushido…” she announced, now suddenly instilled with a rush of vigor. “I-I will find this girl and bring her to justice! We can’t have any more people dying! We must stop her as soon as possible!”

“But how?” asked Tsugumi, rubbing the back of her head. “Hair length and height is too little information to go on with!”

"You're right," she sighed, quickly losing the energy she just gained a few seconds ago. "Saya-chan… do you not remember anything else about who attacked you?" 

Saya shook her head. "Sorry…" 

"Well, at least we have a witness," said Tsugumi, taking out her phone to check the evening news. "You should report to the police when you feel better, Saya-chan. Eve-chan, can you please handle the kitchen and the customers for now? I’ll make sure Saya remains in a stable condition for now." 

"O-Okay," she answered, leaving the kitchen.

“You’re not going to call the ambulance, right?” Saya anxiously asked Tsugumi, at the same time enclosing her hands around the back of her head below the wrapped towel.

“N-No…” she replied, shaking her head. “You said not to…”

“Forgive my stubbornness, Tsugu…”

It did not take long before Tsugumi stumbled upon a front page article that she deeply feared would appear again. This time, there was not one, but two new familiar faces smack on top of the heading. Both with teal hair, one of neck-length, the other down to the waist. As she read through the news report, her face began to turn pale. She was so horrified that she wasn't able to read the full report.

"I… I can’t believe it…” she shivered, shutting off her phone and looking at Saya in horror. “Why… why?!”

Saya tilted her head, watching Tsugumi’s expression turn dreary. “Huh? What is it…?”

“S-Sayo-san… Hina-senpai… they’re…” She was visibly panicking, shuddering and stammering, almost dropping her phone. “I can't… I can't…" 

“O-Oh.” Saya had already expected this response. She covered her face with her hands, trying to avoid looking at the face of the girl in front of her now struck with a harsh wave of melancholia. It was not the time to seep pity into her cold dark heart. Soon after the initial shock of realizing that four people she knew were now dead, Tsugumi lumbered towards the nearest wall and slammed her arms on it in a display of perturbation.

“Tsugumi-san…” Eve entered the room holding her notepad. “We have an order-”

“Eve-chan…” she quavered, turning around at her. “Sayo and Hina are… gone…”

"W-What?!" The white-haired girl blurted out before beginning to cry in front of them. Tsugumi swallowed hard and continued. “They were killed… in their own home…”

"T-Then that means… I-I'll just stay here then!" she shouted, sniffling and wiping the tears off her eyes. "I don't want to leave this place anymore! If my home isn't safe, then I have nowhere else to go-" 

"Eve-chan…" Tsugumi, despite her state of distress, still had enough peace of mind to try and calm her broken friend. "Please… please stay strong… in the name of bushido…”

“No…!” In a fit of frustration, Eve kicked the leg of the table right next to her. “I’ve lost two of my dearest friends; how am I supposed to stay strong?! I just… just… just want this all to end…”

“Eve-chan! Please-”

“You have no idea how painful it feels, Tsugumi!”

Suddenly, a loud whack resonated throughout the room as Saya’s palm made contact with the side of Eve’s face, effectively silencing her. Tsugumi gasped upon seeing her flinch and stumble to the side, alongside the girl who had just stood up dust her hand on her skirt.

“Practice some self-control, won’t you?” she told her coldly. “We’re all going to lose our morale if you keep on whining! Where in your bushido did it say to sit down and give up when faced with insuperable problems like this? Are you simply just going to sink into the pit of your own grievance? Imagine what the other bands would be feeling right now; you are not the only one suffering an irreparable loss! So don’t try and grab attention all to yourself because under our tightly shut lips we are all enduring the same ordeal! If I could only show you how brokenhearted our dear friends’ mothers and fathers are, then that’s probably when you’ll finally start understanding!”

Such a blatant show of hypocrisy.

“Saya-chan!” Tsugumi grabbed Saya and tried to pull her away. “That’s enough! Eve-chan didn’t deserve a scolding… or a slap to the face!”

“I know. I’m sorry…” She took Eve’s hand and lifted her back on her feet. “Please forgive my impudence and lack of lenity. I just want to try and keep everything in order…”

“Sniff…” The white-haired girl shifted her gaze away from her. Saya let out a sigh and returned to her seat.

“I think you should go home and get some rest, Eve-chan…” suggested Tsugumi, knowing that her friend was in no condition to work anymore. “We’ll just close early for tonight. I’m sure Mom won’t mind…”

“Home…?” she whispered. “No… home isn’t safe…”

“It’s okay… just remember to lock your doors. Plus, I can call your parents to come pick you up. That way, you’re always under their watchful eye when you travel back.”

Tsugumi held Eve’s hand and led her out of the room. “I’ll just wait with Eve outside for her parents to arrive and prepare for closing time,” she told Saya before exiting. “If you need anything, don’t hesitate to call for me. Do you really not want to go to the hospital? Or even back home?”

Saya shook her head. “I’ll go on my own accord.”

Tsugumi nodded and left the room. Now all alone, Saya used the time to think about her next course of action. She called home and apologized to her father for not making it home that night, and asked if it was okay for her to stay overnight at a friend’s house because of the looming threat of the murderer. The father agreed and told her that classes at Hanasakigawa were suspended the next day to make way for the police to investigate the students who studied there. He also mentioned that the news about the Hikawas was all over the news and social media and that her little siblings had become too scared to go to school too. Saya was particularly calm during the whole duration of the call until her dad asked to hold the call for a moment, to which the sounds of doors opening and talking were heard in the background.

“Father?” asked Saya once he returned to the phone a few minutes later. “What was that?”

“Saya…” There was a sudden irateness in his voice. “Go back home right now.”

“H-Huh? Why?”

“The police are in this house and they are looking for you!” he shouted into the phone.

“What?!” Saya immediately became scared upon hearing those words. “F-Father, I can’t come home! Not right now-”

“Listen, Saya! The police have two leads on who the suspect is, and they say one of them points to you as the prime suspect. They are in possession of witnesses that are accusing you of the recent deaths! You better go home right now! Who knows what will happen to us, or you, if you don’t?”

Was that it? Was that how her life would stop? Was there no escape from the inevitable end she would face? Now conflicted on what to do, Saya began to break down and cry, to which her father responded by ending the call, deeply stricken with turmoil.

“No... “ she wept to herself, stomping on the floor. “I’ve been found… what am I to do…”

Suddenly, images began racing through her mind; that of her friends, especially Poppin’ Party, and their imagined reactions once they find out the entire truth. 

_Saya Yamabuki, the always smiling and laughing girl I meet at school and play together in my band, accused of murder? Impossible!_

_Oh, she’s that lovely friend who’s always there to cheer me up when I’m sad! What?! She couldn’t have done that… never!_

_Are her sweet smiles only a facade to her deeper, darker self? Has she been hiding something from us all this time? What could have driven such an affable, kind-hearted person to spill the blood of her own kind? _

After that, the faces of each of her family members in respective reactions flashed for brief moments, most prominently her younger siblings who stayed embedded in her imagination for several seconds. Her mother and father’s expressions of odium and shame were as expected of them, but her brother and sister possessed a much more morose, tenebrific characteristic. She always saw them in bright smiles; it was unusual and very painful for her to see them looking like this. 

Lastly, she saw herself with her hands tied behind her back standing before a crowd numbering in the thousands, all screaming and shouting offensive and pejorative words at her. 

_Criminal! Murderer! Maniac! Psychopath! _

Then, a guillotine suddenly appeared in front of her, and a second later she was pushed forward landing on the hard wooden beam just below the massive blade. The cries of the crowd were getting louder and louder, blaring into her ears. A snap of a finger was heard, and before she felt it her head fell and rolled around the floor. A silhouette stepped forward as her eyes slowly closed, and whispered one last sentence into her ear.

_You’ll never save your family._

“Shut up!” she roared at the empty wall in front of her, grasping her face and digging her fingernails into her legs all while shuddering in vexation, before giving off a heavy sigh and repeatedly gasping for air.

Had her love for her family brought her to insanity? It would make sense considering her personality; always smiling even through the most difficult of times. Every person hides something behind their smile. It is a coping mechanism; its form of consolation for the sadness and oppression one encounters in her life. But what happens if this girl was pushed too far, way beyond her threshold of emotional containment, like what had been occurring within her family? Struck with the grief of her mother falling sick and the near failure of her family business, how much did she have to endure just trying not to succumb to the encumbering stress that was being placed on a fragile person like her? In fact, is it still love or just an overwhelming level of pressure that was pushing her?

After finally realizing the effects of what she had done and that the dark path she took had caused her self-destruction, she wanted to disappear from the face of the earth. Never show herself to the public again. All of a sudden, she had resolved to throw herself over the bridge running across the river that was only a few roads away. What use was it to go back home at this point?

“No, Saya!” she began speaking to herself. “Are you giving up immediately? What a weakling you are! Even the most irremediable problems have solutions! Think, Saya, think!”

“Saya-chan?” It was Tsugumi. She had changed out of her work uniform and had walked into the girl practically shouting at herself. She gently rested her hand atop the distraught girl’s shoulder and whispered, “We’re going to close the doors now-”

Saya shot her a glare and interrupted her in the calmest tone possible: “I’m not going.”

“Oh?”

Saya immediately got on her feet and plodded to the door. “Because,” she answered, gripping the doorknob tightly and closing the door. “I can’t go just yet.”

“E-Eh…?” the brunette asked, tilting her head. Suddenly, the click of a lock could be heard. 

“By the way, thank you for taking me in, Tsugu,” she stated, inching towards her with slow, heavy steps. “To me, your kindness was of paramount importance, because if you weren’t afraid to take a killer under your care, then you may as well have lost another friend of yours.”

“Huh? I don’t understand what you’re saying, Saya-chan,” she responded, scratching the back of her head.

“Where did you think I got this almost fatal wound on my head from? No, it wasn’t from the ‘killer’ whom I mentioned in my account unless you count Hina-san as one. But she can’t kill any more if she’s lying dead in her sister’s room with a hole in her brain, won’t she? Poor thing tried her best to fight back, yet she failed to kill me. Well, I could have died if it was not for you and Eve-chan’s help.”

Tsugumi did not speak, but her gaping mouth indicated that she was beginning to realize the gravity of the situation she was in. 

“Tsugumi-chan.” Saya gave her a compunctious smile. “Now that I’ve relayed to you that I was the one behind those deaths, I can’t let you get out of this building and tell the world. It might seem pointless since the police are already after me, but at least I get to enjoy what I love doing the most before I finally get caught. Your act of kindness caused you your death.”

Without waiting for Tsugumi to react, Saya grabbed her collar and threw her against the wall, causing a loud thud to echo across the small room from her head hitting the concrete face-first. “Augh,” a weak cry broke out of the girl as she fell to the ground. 

Confused and her entire face engulfed in pain, she tried to lift herself up, but before she could Saya grabbed her by the back of her neck and forcefully thrust her face back towards the floor again and again. The white ceramic floor tiles underneath her were beginning to display small red splotches of blood that came out of her now broken nose. Saya then rested her foot on top of her back, preventing her from moving.

“Good for you that your business is still thriving, eh?” she sneered, flicking a speck of dirt off the tip of her finger. “I’ve heard that you started serving buns and croissants when our business started dwindling. How blatant of you! Only the Yamabuki Bakery has the right to sell baked goods!”

She then stomped her foot on her back, causing Tsugumi to gasp and cough. “You’re so lucky, Tsugu. You only have you and your parents to feed, but me? My family of five barely scrapes by each day and coupled with the burdening expenses we need for Mom’s medicine, there’s no way we can survive that long if our only means to live doesn’t even make any money! I have had enough of hearing dad curse and slam the table repeatedly over unpaid bills!”

More gasps of pain shot out of Tsugumi as Saya continued bashing her face against the floor this time by dragging of her hair. “I… hate… you… so… much!” she shouted in between collisions.

“Mom… Dad… Eve… Ran… Moca…” she wailed, blood flowing out her nose and her lacerated lips.

Saya stopped and let out a short chuckle. “Aww, crying for your family and friends? That’s so cute. But they’ll never come here in time to save you. Perhaps it’s time for you to start reminiscing all the precious memories you have had with them.”

“P-P-Please…” The bloodied girl let out a sniffle, sputtering her words. “I… I don’t wanna die…”

“Can’t you say anything else aside from that? I’m getting bored of hearing that every single time I kill someone!”

A few more merciless strikes later, Saya released her grip on the poor girl, taking a moment to rest as the body in front of her tried her hardest to shift herself sideways towards the wall averting her shattered face away from the cold, hard floor. Saya was then given a full body view of a bloodied, teary-eyed Tsugumi slowly curling up into a ball with her shaking hands covering her face feeling the painful bruises and blisters and the warm red liquid splattered all over. Silent whispers left the brunette’s mouth as she cried softly to herself for help.

“Blood…” mumbled Saya, dipping the tip of her finger into the small puddle of crimson left by her bleeding nose and popping it inside her mouth. “This… this bitter taste… why do I adore it so much? But the feeling it gives me… it’s so invigorating!”

Not content with how battered Tsugumi already was, Saya flipped her onto her back with her foot and began to harass her once again. More cries of misery reverberated throughout the small, cramped room. Weakened, Tsugumi could do nothing to stop her chest from being stomped on. Her arms, who desperately tried to keep her body from getting pounded and broken, were starting to become broken themselves. In multiple places, blood began to flow among the rest of her red, swollen skin. 

“Hnagh…!” A faint cracking sound was suddenly heard followed by immense pain surging from the right side of her chest. Tsugumi rolled onto her side and trembled in agony, tears streaming from her eyes now that one of her ribs had snapped in half. Upon hearing the painful snap, Saya stepped back and looked at Tsugumi, laughing in amusement.

"You sad, sad being." She placed her foot on top of her victim’s waist. "Look at you: all bloodied and bruised! You should at least thank me for not forcing anything through your body as I did with my last four victims."

“Nragh… Fff… fff…” Tsugumi wanted to scream out so badly, but now even with the tiniest breath, it felt like pikes were being skewered right through her body. What atrocious acts had this girl done to the others? It was almost unbelievable to think that a second-year student with such an amiable and well-disposed personality would go out and do something like this. In fact, why was she doing this in the first place? Was she killing people for the thrill of it? Was she cutting open people to have a taste of their fluids? Those were motives that she could only attribute to a psychopath, like what she had read in her manga. 

"S-Saya…” She attempted to get her tormentor’s attention only to be stopped by another sharp sensation shooting out of her chest. Immediately after that feeble yelp, Saya lifted her foot off of her body and placed it on top of Tsugumi’s face, rubbing the dirt and gravel on the sole of her shoe onto her skin with forceful sweeping and twisting motions. Once she had deposited all the filth stuck on her shoe, she slammed it down again this time with more force than before, blood spurting out of her wounds toward the sides as it impacted. Tsugumi felt one of her front teeth fall to the back of her mouth followed by a stream of liquid with the distinct metallic taste.

But what was about to come completely caused the unfortunate girl the most distress. Saya saw an opportunity with the plastic chair beside her and dragged it back to her, before carrying it and resting one of its metal cylindrical legs right above Tsugumi’s closed mouth. After placing the other three legs to rest on the floor, she then sat on the cushion, leaning towards the leg right above her mouth. The weight forced the leg through Tsugumi’s lips and to the back of her throat, bringing her excruciating pain and a bout of choking and gasping that tortured her even more. Worse was that her head was now practically anchored to the floor, so it was almost impossible to get out. No matter how hard she pushed or tugged on the chair, she could not get Saya off of it, and that the tormenting giggles she heard and the constant shifting of her weight onto that leg made the whole ordeal as bad as it could get.

After twenty seconds that felt like a million harrowing years for Tsugumi, Saya stood up, relieving the strain being applied to her; however, she was far from content. Pulling the blood and saliva-stained leg out of her mouth, she relocated it to the base of her neck, aligning it at the small indentation formed above the middle of her collarbone. Then she repeated the same action as before: resting the other three legs flat on the ground and sitting on the chair. Tsugumi clutched her throat trying to shift the leg out of the way, but when she could not she flailed like a fish out of water when the immense force acting on her windpipe brought not only an even greater level of suffering but also the feeling of asphyxiation. Additionally, the more she threw herself around wildly, the greater the negative effects of her broken rib had on her. Combining all of this and in only a few moments she started to feel faint and eventually blacked out. Saya clicked her tongue and lifted the chair away from the unconscious girl, leaving behind a red circular indentation below her neck.

Surveying the room for objects to use, she found a metal screw top stool stored inverted underneath the table and pulled it out of its dusty home. Seeing the rusty, jagged edges of the bottom of the detachable seat filled her with even more gruesome ideas, but upon hearing a faint siren roaring by from outside, she remembered that she was committing her crime amid a manhunt centered on her. 

“Sadly, I’ll have to end this session earlier,” she announced, unscrewing the heavy seat of the stool and raising it over Tsugumi’s head like a sledgehammer. “I need to get out of here before the police start searching around this location. Goodbye, Tsugumi-chan-”

Unexpectedly, Tsugumi’s eyes shot open. "W-Wait!" she exclaimed, weakly stretching out her hand in a poor effort to stop the fatal blow. Surprised at hearing the brunette suddenly speak, Saya halted midway through her swing and stared at her, startled but at the same time impatient. 

“T-Tell me, Saya…” she mouthed, barely making a sound. “It was family problems that led you to do this… right?”

Saya’s eyes initially widened at the girl’s statement, then gently closed as a serious expression replaced the excitement on her face. She set the stool down and sat on the floor next to Tsugumi, with her legs straightened out in front of her.

“I guess I mentioned things about my family a few times, did I?” She looked in front of her, glimpsed at Tsugumi, and at the ceiling. “Well, you’re right. I’m doing all this because me and my family is in a really tough situation. With the bakery, and all… I just want my family to pull through…”

Then Saya let out a crazed giggle after a brief pause and began speaking in a more agitated manner.

“Of course! Who doesn’t want their family to live a good life? How many times have I told that to my previous victims? I kill because they are essential for our survival! Tsugumi-chan, dare you ask too why kill? Why not resort to more ‘humane’ ways? Because I need to kill. That’s it! I’m a crazy psychopath, right? Wrong. I wasn’t always full-blown crazy for torture and violence. In fact, I was pressured into this by none other than my father. Nobody else, not you, nor my band, not even He who watches from above, will never realize the pain I had to endure every day with his deleterious influence.

My father. Boorish, intimidating man. Not in any way fit to be the front of a bakery. So he mostly works from behind the scenes. And by work, I mean mostly laze around acting as the bakery manager where in reality does literally nothing to benefit the business. Even if it was sure to fail when Mom became unable to work, he refused to find a proper job and forced me and Sana to recover the business, without him helping at all! Real great father, am I right? Wait till I list down all his violence records throughout the years. He beats up every single one of us without any reason at all! Me, Mom, Sana, Jun… all of us have been suffering under his fists and things he grabbed off the shelf. He’s probably the reason why my mother is lying sick in bed right now! He has no care for human emotion and does everything he wants at his own will. That man, my father, is the true psychopath! You will never know how heart-wrenching it feels to helplessly watch your younger sister get yelled at and beaten for staying up after bedtime! I have no idea why Mom even decided to marry that criminal!

My friends didn’t know. My classmates didn’t know. My teachers didn’t know. Nobody knew. I hid it all behind my smile, because seeing a sad Saya would be an unusual event, right? Plus, it would be difficult to tell on your own father because of natural respect for him, and of fear that he will do something horrific to you. Well, that was probably the biggest mistake I had ever done, because if only I sought out even just a tiny bit of help and assistance, it would have never escalated into this.

So, after all the recent events that left me writhing in financial, mental, and emotional desperation, I committed my first kill. And I would not have done it without the help of my psychopath father who unknowingly taught me how to harm and how to get used to and embrace the foul smell and taste of blood, and become apathetic to the reek of death.

I used the blood I spilled to make a new line of chocolate products, which ended up being very popular. But why blood? Why do I relish its bitter taste in its pure form? Why does it taste so good mixed with a couple of melted chocolate bars and some sugar? In all honesty, I do not know. But would have I made that astonishing discovery if I had not cut myself open because my good-for-nothing father kept shouting about our inescapable debts all around the house and how he was about to lose his mind when nothing could be done? All he does is complain and complain when he does absolutely nothing to support us!

Now that I think about it, all my killings serve as a coping mechanism for trying to avoid harming my father. I’ll state the obvious truth right now: I do not like him and I do not want to see him anymore. I want him dead. I am sick and tired of having to deal with his crap. I want freedom from the slavery that I have been put into. How will I achieve my own dreams if I appear to be destined as a baker girl forever? I don’t want to be wasting my time trying to resurrect a bakery that even if successful wouldn’t be making enough money for four family members and a sick mother! I want revenge on the world that gave me this cursed life. Don’t get me wrong; I still love my family, my friends, everyone. I’ll continue to love my father because it is my obligation as his daughter to do so. But tell me, Tsugumi-chan: how would a delicate girl like me release the tension built up from years upon years of suffering under abusive parents? Would you rather live a few days of wild ecstasy doing everything you ever wanted, or just suck it all up and stay inside your room waiting for death to take you over?”

Tsugumi did not answer. Saya let out a loud groan and inadvertently headbutted the wall in sheer frustration, causing the wound on her head to open and begin bleeding again. “Nyargh!” she yelled, clutching her head and kicking the chair she was holding earlier over. A chaotic fit of her pulling her hair viciously then ensued, followed by her dropping her body on the table before bawling uncontrollably face down. Blood began to soak the tabletop.

With all the strength she could gather, and despite her broken face and ribs and her almost crushed windpipe, Tsugumi managed to lift herself up and leaned on the wall before plodding over to the crying girl. 

“Was it worth it… was it worth it, Saya?!” she asked, shaking Saya’s left shoulder back and forth with her bloodied hand. “Worth the deaths and sadness that you’ve spread?! Worth the many more families that are grieving?! You hadn’t thought of just… leaving him behind and find a new home?”

“We… we couldn’t,” she sniffled, curling her body forward such that she was pressing as hard as she could on the table. “He’d find us and kill us all in our sleep. That was how much we feared him. And now that Mom's stuck in bed, there's no way we can move out now…”

Saya continued crying but nothing else came out of her mouth. Tsugumi’s scorn for Saya began to turn into pity, realizing that the most good-hearted people can turn into savages solely from traumatic experiences. 

“I…” It was becoming difficult for her to speak, let alone stand. “I’m so sorry, Saya… I wish I’d known sooner… we could all have helped you…” A single teardrop fell from her eye and splashed onto the floor. The soft pats she gave to her made Saya feel even more guilty and remorseful, to the point when she suddenly turned around and smacked her hand away in embarrassment, much to Tsugumi's surprise. She then sighed and shook her head, blood dripping down her forehead and onto her uniform.

“Why… why after having told you my story, had I lost the urge to do anything anymore? It feels like a massive weight has been lifted from my chest…”

After that, to the surprise of both persons, the murderer could not stop herself from giving her victim a hug. “I…” Saya whispered shakily to Tsugumi. “I can’t stop… feeling… so relieved…”

“Maybe…” she responded with a soft voice, feeling Saya press her cheek on hers. “Maybe you’ve finally fulfilled what your heart has been yearning for years… for the pressure inside to be vented out once and for all…”

Silence followed. Saya released her hold on Tsugumi, regretting the damage she had done to girls who never deserved such miserable conditions. In a manner reminiscent of her former, cheerful self, she smiled and uttered a sincere “Thank you…”

“Go…” she said, turning her back towards her. “Go home… back to your parents that actually welcome you with open arms…”

Shocked that she had stopped a killer from taking another life, Tsugumi was not able to suppress the happiness she was feeling. “T-Thank you…” she replied, making a feeble bow.

Numb and barely conscious, she trudged towards the door and placed her hand on the doorknob, but could not bring herself to unlock it. As if a mystical force was stopping her, every time she fiddled with the lock, it would simply not open. The more effort she exerted, the more her vision began to sway and haze. Struggling and gasping for air, Tsugumi realized every breath she took was not entering her lungs. A few seconds later, a thud reverberated across the room as the now lifeless girl impacted the floor, right after Saya released her powerful squeeze on her neck.

“I’m terribly sorry, Tsugu…” she said, clenching her fist. “Even if I wanted to spare a wonderful soul such as you… you're still a witness. I did promise myself I’d leave no witnesses but… I guess I already failed."

Saya rubbed her eyes and gazed at the dead keyboardist, the only person who had heard and listened eagerly to the story of her life. She had decided on her final plan before she'd disappear from society: to save her family from its throes and grant them a brighter future hopefully through convincing her father to seek help and change for the better. The bakery must dissolve as well. There would be no way to keep its doors open unless either a miracle happened or she continued to slash open more people. That would surely dismay a lot of her regular customers who came back for the chocolate products, but it was all for the amelioration of her family’s situation. Her mother and siblings deserve a better life than what they are living in now.

"I presume the police are still searching for me right now," she said to herself, placing her hand on the doorknob and pushing open the door. A siren wailed past the establishment at the exact moment Saya stepped out into the empty dining area, leaving behind bloody footprints. She was about to exit the building when a person wearing a black and gray cap and holding a small bouquet of flowers suddenly opened the door, catching her all covered in blood. 

“I thought Tsugumi closed this place down already?!” she shouted to herself without opening her mouth.

“Y-Yamabuki-san!” she gasped, staring wide-eyed at her appalling appearance. “W-Why are you-”

Saya instantly dashed swiftly past the startled girl and out the door, leaving her unable to process what was going on. When she followed the tracks leading inside the kitchen and into the small room where Tsugumi's deceased body lay however, she quickly realized what had just happened.

"Come back here!" she chased after the fleeing figure, following the bloody trail she left behind. At the same time, she dialed the emergency number and spoke frantically to the receiver as she ran with all her energy.

"Hello, we just had another murder in the Hazawa Cafe! I'm chasing the suspect down right now!"


End file.
